Two Award Winning Small Architectural Projects that Inspire

So often architectural awards go to the biggest, grandest, most imposing structures. But it’s good to remember that good architecture and interior design can also be on a small scale.

The American Institute of Architects recently announced the winners of the 8th annual Small Projects Awards. There were two divisions– Small Project Objects, with a construction budget of no more than $50,000; and Small Project Structures, with a construction budget no more than $500,000.

The online architectural magazine Archinnovations has a good write up about the winning projects, along with several photos.

There were two winning projects that particularly caught our eye.

The E.D.G.E. (Experimental Dwelling for a Greener Environment) is in Bayfield, Wisconsin. It’s a modular constructed dwelling that can be used as a vacation retreat or a modest (but gorgeous) full-time residence. Revelations Architects/Builders Corporation calls it “an experimental dwelling distilled to the four primary human functions: eating, sleeping, bathing and fellowship.”

Just as the E.D.G.E. project is environmentally friendly, you might say this next award winning project is spiritually-friendly.

It’s nominally a Tea House that hangs– yes, hangs– in a residential back yard in Bethesda, Maryland. But Archinnovations says it’s also used as a meditation space and performance space for family musical recitals. Designer David Jameson describes it as “a hanging glass and bronze object.”

Photograph: Paul Warchol

Residential Architect calls the hanging design “a metaphor for the mental attitude of mindfulness, and the meditative detachment from thought and time.

Photograph: Paul Warchol

Take a look at the other award winning designs profiled on Archinnovations. They are all interesting and inspiring.

And perhaps you’re planning on an interesting and inspiring architectural or interior design project in the Boston area. Leslie Saul & Associates would love to work with you to make it come to life.